How to Delete Paper From Turnitin while Generating a Plagiarism Report

Sumra
Aug 12
3 min read

The Problem No One Talks About

Imagine this — you’ve spent months, maybe years, working on your research. You finally submit your paper to a journal or your university. Later, you start writing another paper or your thesis, but when you check it in Turnitin… boom! A high plagiarism score appears.

The reason? Your own previously submitted work is being flagged as copied.

This is a common frustration for many master’s and PhD students. But the good news is — you can remove your previously submitted work from the Turnitin plagiarism report without deleting it from the journal or university database.

Let’s walk through exactly how to do it.

Why Your Work Shows Up as Plagiarism in Turnitin

Turnitin saves all submitted documents in its database. When you submit a new paper, it automatically compares it to:

Academic papers in its database (including your own)
Online articles, journals, and books
Student submissions worldwide

This means your earlier published paper or thesis gets matched and increases your plagiarism percentage, even though it’s your work.

The solution? Exclude your previous work from the similarity report while generating your

Turnitin plagiarism report.

Step-by-Step Guide to Exclude Your Previous Work from Turnitin

1. Upload Your Current Document

First, upload your paper to Turnitin through your institution or journal’s submission portal.

2. Open the Detailed Plagiarism Report

Once the report is generated, click on your uploaded document to view the full plagiarism and AI detection results.

You’ll see:

Plagiarism percentage – showing copied content.
AI detection percentage – showing AI-generated text.

If your AI score is less than 20%, Turnitin marks it as “false positive,” meaning it’s considered safe for submission.

3. Identify the Sources

Scroll through the report to find all the sources from which content is matched. You’ll also see if your own previously published paper or thesis is among them.

4. Exclude Your Old Papers

To exclude a source:

Click the arrow next to the matched source.
Find and click the “Exclude Sources” button.
Select the source(s) you want to remove.
Click “Exclude”.

5. Check the Updated Report

After excluding your previous work, Turnitin will update your similarity percentage. For example, if your plagiarism was 5% before, it might drop to 3% after exclusion.

Why This Matters for Researchers

Excluding your own past work helps you:

Avoid unfairly high plagiarism scores.
Focus on checking for actual copied content.
Keep your report clean and ready for submission.

Tips for Reading Turnitin Reports Effectively

Always check both plagiarism and AI detection sections.
Expand each match to see exactly where it’s flagged.
Don’t just delete sources randomly — only exclude those that are genuinely your own past work.

Conclusion

Turnitin is a powerful tool, but without the right knowledge, it can sometimes create unnecessary stress for researchers. By excluding your own previously submitted work, you can ensure your plagiarism report reflects only relevant matches. This helps you submit your paper with confidence and without false alarms.

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